Love-in-Idleness Read online

  Ryder’s eyes lowered as Chloe chided him, but within moments, he lifted them again and began to move toward her. “I don’t care if I ever see Grace again. You are everything she isn’t. You are sophisticated and graceful. She’s just a girl.”

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “She told me about you earlier tonight. She told me how beautiful you are, and how sad. I didn’t realize until I saw you that I was wrong to ever tell Grace that I loved her. I was supposed to be with you all along.”

  Chloe’s face turned dark with rage. “Sad? She said I was sad? That little bitch. She doesn’t know me. The last thing I am is sad, but if that’s what she’s saying, then no wonder you all think you can torture me. I’m not some kid who falls for everyone who flatters her. Everyone flatters me. I’m Chloe, for God’s sake. I’m what men want and what every girl wants to be. Saying it out loud a hundred times doesn’t make it any more or less true.”

  It was at that moment that Chloe looked down to see her Chanel boots sinking into the damp, dirty ground. Grumbling under her breath, she clomped awkwardly toward the bench where Cam was lying, as if walking in this way would prevent further wardrobe damage. For a moment Puck wondered if Chloe was going to sit on Cam, but at the last moment, she spotted him and jumped back a little. He was slumped sideways, with a small cut on his temple. In the dark, the small drops of blood that had emerged from his wound seemed black as ink. Careful to avoid the blood, Chloe poked Cam once on the chin to try to wake him.

  “Cam,” she barked. “Wake up. I want to get out of here.” She poked his chin again and checked her finger for stray blood splatters.

  Cam stirred quietly and sat up on one elbow. He leaned close to Chloe’s face. “What happened to your head?” she asked.

  Cam didn’t say anything. He just reached up to stroke her cheek with the back of his hand. “Oh, Chloe,” he whispered. “I’ve made a terrible mistake.” With that, he kissed her, full on the mouth. Chloe seemed to be enjoying it for a second, but then she pulled away from him sharply, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

  “Oh, hell! What is wrong with both of you? Especially you.” She stood up and gave Cam a little frustrated kick in the leg. “You liked me yesterday, you hated me today, and now you love me? That doesn’t even make sense.”

  Ryder approached Cam, seeing him for the first time. “You’re Cameron Oberon? Why are you here? And why are you tormenting Chloe? Grace told me that you are in love with her, so go be with her and leave Chloe to me.”

  Chloe sat down on the bench, slumping in a most unglamorous way. “I don’t even think this is a joke anymore. You’re all insane,” she moaned.

  Cam slid closer to Chloe on the bench and tried to subtly slip his arm around her shoulders. Chloe looked at him sideways and reached up to brush his arm away. “Ryder, Grace is yours. She’s always been yours. You belong with her and Chloe belongs with me.”

  Ryder gasped, “Chloe, he’s wrong.”

  “No, you are. Grace doesn’t fit in with us. She belongs here with you, Ryder. She and I have nothing in common. Every time I took her somewhere, I’d end up apologizing because for my friends. Every conversation they have is about things she can’t afford. It’s all so far above her reach. With you, she fits right in. Chloe and I have the same friends and the same experiences, most of which you could never understand. You’ve just met her, and you claim to love her? That’s insulting to her.”

  At that moment, Puck heard quick footsteps in the grass. The others heard them as well and turned to find Grace, tired and disheveled, rushing toward them.

  “Ryder, I’ve been looking everywhere. Where have you been? Why did you leave me?” she asked.

  Ryder scoffed in her direction. “Why would I stay, when my love was walking out the door?”

  “What love? What could make you run off like that?” Grace’s befuddled state delighted Puck to no end.

  Ryder looked at Chloe longingly. “I had to follow her before she disappeared. If I lost sight of her, she could be gone forever.”

  “Chloe? That’s ridiculous. She wouldn’t be hard to find. She’s twelve feet tall and that outfit is reflecting every lamp in the park. Anyway, why do you care? You don’t even know her,” Grace pointed out.

  Chloe stood up abruptly. “Where the hell did you come from?” she yelled at Grace. “My life was great, and then you showed up and everyone went insane. Cam dumps me after all the months I spent chasing him finally paid off. Everyone knows that he’s supposed to be with me. Now you and your crazy boyfriend team up with him for some bizarre practical joke. What is the point of this? What did I do to you?”

  Grace’s eyes were wide as she absorbed the impact of Chloe’s aggression. “I’m so confused,” she whispered. Looking to Ryder for assistance, she said, “Help me out here. What’s going on?” But Ryder didn’t have a chance to answer before Chloe continued.

  “Come on, admit it. You’re starting St. Helen’s, and you know that I’m the queen. Cam or his stupid brother must have told you that you could come in at the top if you took me down.”

  Puck made a mental note to do something really terrible to Chloe when this was all over. This was fun, but Chloe deserved much worse.

  “You are completely delusional.” Grace shook her head.

  Chloe moved toward Grace. “No, you are the one who’s delusional. Do you really think that taking Cam from me and tormenting me with your idiot Brooklyn boy will bring me down?” Chloe stretched out her arms and spun in a circle, as if indicating that Grace should observe the entire park. “No one is here. We’re on the other side of the bridge. No one who matters would be caught dead here. I’ll go back to school and no one will know about this ridiculous stunt.”

  Puck grinned. Only Chloe would think this was all a conspiracy to undermine her social standing. To be honest, Puck wasn’t sure what a normal person would think of all this, but he was pretty sure they wouldn’t go straight to social sabotage as an explanation.

  “She’s right, I don’t matter at all.” Ryder stated quietly. “But I will work harder to matter. I will try to be worthy if it will make Chloe love me.”

  “Oh my God!” Cam bellowed. “Listen to yourself, you fool. You’re babbling. Just stop. You don’t know her. You couldn’t possibly love her. Go home.”

  “What do I have to do, Chloe? He can’t bully me out of loving you. Grace can’t persuade me by begging. Tell me how to prove myself.” Ryder sounded pathetic.

  “Please,” Cam yelled in Chloe’s direction. “Will you please just tell this idiot to shut up so we can go home?”

  With all eyes focused on Cam, no one noticed Ryder speeding toward Cam. He burst forward, with one fist cocked, and took a swing that clipped Cam right in the perfect blue eye. Cam backed up, temporarily shamed, and collected himself. “Is that what you want, Brooklyn boy?”

  “Yeah,” Ryder barked back. “That’s exactly what I want, you Upper East Side pansy. You wouldn’t last five minutes. There are no servants to clean up after you down here.”

  “Ryder!” Grace gasped. “What is wrong with you? Why are you doing all of this?” She grabbed Ryder’s arm in an attempt to pull him away from Cam.

  “Stay out of it!” Ryder commanded bso loudly that Grace recoiled as if she had been slapped.

  As Ryder tried to pull away from Grace, Cam hurried to his side. “Listen, you don’t have to fight with me. Just say you’re going to follow me and then sneak home. You’re not a fighter. Get out of this while you can.”

  Ryder snapped his arms out of Grace’s clutches. “Let go of me!” He shouted and stared intently into her eyes until she shuddered.

  Grace glared back at him. “What’s happened to you? Did you hit your head on something?”

  Chloe jumped in. “He must have. He’s a complete lunatic.”

  “He’s about to hit his head on my fist,” Cam muttered.

  “Fine, let’s go.” Ryder started to walk toward the grassy field.

&nb
sp; “Where are you going, coward?” Cam yelled after him.

  Ryder turned back. “We can’t fight on the path. It’s too hard.”

  Cam gave the cement a good long look and nodded. “Good point.”

  Grace and Chloe both threw their arms up in disbelief. In his hiding place, Puck had to bite his lip from laughing out loud. No one in his right mind would believe that either of those two knew anything about fighting. As Ryder and Cam walked toward the field, Grace turned toward Chloe. “What did you do? How did you manage this? I know you were pissed about Cam, but how did you get Ryder to completely go insane? Did you drug him or something?”

  Chloe’s face darkened as she looked down at Grace. “Listen, I don’t need to drug guys. Do you, little girl?”

  “Little girl?” Grace retorted. “Little girl? I’m not too short to claw your frickin’ eyes out.”

  “Let’s see about that.” Chloe pulled herself to her full height and called out toward the field. “Cam! Brooklyn Boy! She’s threatening me! I may be bigger, but she’s much meaner.”

  Grace snarled. “Again with the size thing? What is your problem?”

  The boys turned, their fight aborted by Chloe’s cry for help.

  As they approached, Chloe leaned in and said in a slow hiss, “You would be so much better off if you’d never started this.” As Ryder and Cam moved into hearing range, she stood up tall and spoke to them. “She’s so incredibly hateful. I’ve never done anything to her, but she showed up and started running around with Cameron, who was still mine. Now she’s threatening me.” Chloe turned to Grace with mock sincerity. “I did tell Cam that you were coming here, but only to show him that I’m the one who really loves him. He abused me all the way here, and wanted me gone. “

  “Then we all agree on something. Excellent,” Grace snapped.

  “I think you’ve got it backwards,” Ryder interjected, looking at Cam. “You’re the one who needs to leave.” Puck was impressed. Maybe Ryder had a little bit of pluck in him after all.

  Cam rolled his head dramatically. “You really don’t get it, do you?” he yelled at Ryder. “You’re defending someone who doesn’t care about you. Stop being a jerk and go home with your own girlfriend.”

  “Wasn’t I about to kick your ass?” Ryder stepped forward.

  “After you,” Cam swept his arm in the direction of the field, and the pair sauntered off again.

  The girls stared after them in disbelief.

  “You know this is all your fault, right?” Grace asked.

  “I can’t do this anymore.” Chloe turned and disappeared back up the hill and out of the park.

  Sighing, Grace plopped herself down on the pavement and put her head in her hands. A few seconds later, she leaned back onto the ground, spread herself flat and was still. It was as if she was trying to disappear, as if the sheer effort it took to remain upright and visible was unbearable.

  In his hiding place, Puck fought the urge to giggle by holding his forearm to his mouth. He watched Grace lay down on the pavement, sprawled out, face up, and pathetic. Puck once again wondered why everyone was making such a fuss over her. The city was full of pretty girls. It was hard to imagine that this rough, impulsive girl could possibly play into the destiny of the Oberon family. The longer he waited for answers, the more anxious he became for an explanation.

  He wondered how long Grace would stay like that, lying on the dirty ground, but he didn’t wait to find out. He wanted to see the boys duke it out. There wasn’t anything about Ryder that gave the impression that he knew anything about fighting, but Puck was pretty sure he could take Cam out, nonetheless. Having engaged in many spars with his brother over the years, Puck knew that Cam could never muster the aggression needed to win a fistfight. Granted, the potion seemed to be making him extra hostile, which would give him an edge. And, to be fair, Ryder wasn’t able to hurl inanimate objects like Puck, which evened the playing field considerably.

  He silently began to creep out of his hiding place, only to have his phone spew forth The Flight of the Valkyries. He clamped his hand over the phone to muffle the sound and hit answer as quickly as he could.

  “What the hell is going on over there?” Miles spat out without any semblance of pleasantries.”Where are you?”

  Puck could feel his insides flip over. Granted, his father was miles away and he could say whatever he wanted. However, when it came down to it, he needed to find a way to put things right in his father’s eyes. “We’re in a park by Ryder’s house. Ryder is definitely deeply in love with Chloe.” Puck wanted to leave it at that.

  “Great,” Miles responded. “Now get home and get your idiot friends out of my house. I’m tired of them, now.”

  “Small problem…” Puck began. There was no getting around this.

  “Yes?”

  “Grace is definitely not in love with Cam.” Puck winced even having to say it aloud. “If you just let me give her the powder, this can all be over in a few minutes.” All he heard in response was the loud click of a phone being hung up. Puck jumped at the sound, as quick and solid as a slap in his face. Knowing his father, he kept the phone out. Within moments, his father’s ring sounded again and Puck answered, mostly because he couldn’t think of an excuse not to do so.

  “Hey Miles,” he said casually.

  “Grace is off limits! Find another way to fix this!” his father roared and hung up on him for the second time. How could he possible resolve this without consequences? If he couldn’t enchant Grace, then there was still Chloe. Unfortunately, even if Chloe fell in love with Ryder, there was still the Cam problem. How would he explain that to Miles. He couldn’t play innocent because he wouldn’t be able to explain why Cam was in love with Chloe. Puck stood up, brushed any signs of park dirt off his clothes, and walked toward the exit. It was clear to him that two things had to happen. He needed to have all four of them in the same place so he could have a chance at setting things right.

  1:30 AM

  Grace stayed on the ground, looking up at the black sky, until the world grew quiet around her. She could tell that the temperature was dropping because the pavement felt cool on her back. Crickets chirped, and a slight breeze rustled the leaves on the trees. After all the hours she had spent in this park, playing with her mother as a child, jogging in the mornings, and doing homework on a bench with Ryder, none of those hours had been anything like the hour that just passed. Until this evening, she felt she was on the road to figuring things out. She and Ryder would sort out their relationship one way or another, even if it meant ending things. Theo and Gianni would get married, and Grace would move on toward adulthood in spite of them.

  However, all of a sudden, her choices were no longer her own. Miles and Theo were attempting to guide her love life, and her boyfriend had gone mad. The only way to regain control at this point was to stop trying. She would stop trying to figure out why Ryder had lost his mind. Theo could have his Gia, and Miles Oberon could kiss her ass. She would walk out of this park and leave them all to their insanity. As she stood, voices briefly permeated the silence, and although she couldn’t make out the words, she assumed that it was the boys having their big showdown. In light of recent events, she expected to care more about what was happening with them, but the longer she stood and listened to the vague murmur of their voices drifting toward her, the more she found that she didn’t care at all. After all this time with Ryder, one of the most important people in her life, his actions of the night had pushed her beyond anger to numbness. How was that possible? How could an hour of irrationality change everything? Surely it was a combination of stress and exhaustion. After a night of sleep, Grace felt sure that she would wake up to find that this had all been a misunderstanding.

  Grace looked into the fog, toward the boys. She could only make out the vaguest of shapes. Quietly, she turned and walked away from them, toward the park exit. As she moved closer to civilization, the streetlights became brighter, and she looked up and down the street, deciding w
hich way to go. To the left was President Street and Ryder’s apartment. This seemed decidedly unappealing at the moment. Almost directly across the street, there was an entrance to the train that could take her to Manhattan. It seemed ironic to her that she had come here to leave her problems on the other side of the bridge. Now, just a few hours later, the thought of going home to Theo was the most comforting thing she could think of. She was exhausted and her feelings had been trampled. As she put one foot off the curb and began to cross the street, headlights rapidly approached. She jumped back just as a black town car pulled up and stopped in front of her. Before she could turn to run, the backseat window rolled down and Grace was faced with a smiling Miles Oberon.

  “Get in, dear,” he instructed calmly.

  For a moment, Grace felt paralyzed by shock. She just couldn’t shake this family. Gradually, the shock faded and her anger and determination returned.

  She looked steadily into Miles’s face and leaned toward him. “Why are you making my life like this?” she demanded. “How did you even know I was here?”

  “I knew you went to Ryder’s, and I was already on the way when Puck called and told me where to find you,” he stated. She was surprised by his candor. “As for why, get in and I’ll tell you everything.”

  Grace questioned what she wanted more, answers or freedom. She could just walk away from him. She looked toward the subway stop. Miles couldn’t follow her in his car if she went underground. But she would just be going home, and he knew exactly where that was. Better to just get answers and hope for an end to this torture. Without a word, she walked to the other side of the car and climbed into the back seat. What was the worst that could happen?

  The interior of the car was all black, with the softest leather seats Grace had ever seen. Between the front and back seats, there was a partition that kept their conversation from being overheard by the driver.